Before 9 a.m. on Black Friday, Diane Pinkard and her son Connor, of Knoxville, were already heavily laden with bags from Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, Belk, Mori Luggage, Victoria’s Secret and other stores in West Town Mall. They arrived when it opened at 6 a.m., “to beat the crowds and get the best sales,” she said.

They were Christmas shopping for family and friends, and did find everything they bought on sale, Diane Pinkard said. She prefers in-person shopping to buying online so she can examine the merchandise and try on clothes. The Pinkards also planned to go to Target, Best Buy and Kohl’s on their annual mother/son holiday shopping trip.

Deedra Blevins tries out a child carrier wrap with help from her husband Preston at Bohemian Baby shop at West Town Mall Friday, Nov. 24, 2017. One-year-old Daliah is inside the wrap and Preston is holding Caden, 3. Michael Patrick/News Sentinel

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West Town Mall was open 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Thanksgiving, and reopened at 6 a.m. on Black Friday, staying open until 10 p.m. Mall Manager Robert O’Grady said he thinks Thanksgiving night’s mall traffic was the heaviest he’s seen in four years.

“This mall was packed right until 1 o’clock in the morning,” he said.

Mall renovations

The mall is two months into an eight-month renovation, getting new floors, lights, seating areas, a fifth entrance and upgraded food court. No stores need to be moved or closed during the work, but O’Grady said every morning he’s surprised to see what changes were made during the night by 50 workers with jackhammers, tile-cutters and other tools.

Though it’s not easy to work around holiday shopping, the ongoing construction should at least pique the interest of infrequent visitors, hopefully enticing them back to see the mall’s new look and future changes, he said. The mall parking lot already has new brighter, more efficient LED lights, O’Grady said.

"Man, are those such a huge improvement. It's like Wrigley Field at night,” he said.

Outside Hot Topic, where ongoing renovation narrowed the walkway, sales associate Scotty Mason sought to lure customers with a $10 T-shirt sale. Mason said he had only worked there two days, but his rapid, repetitive patter occasionally worked – he drew two middle-aged women out of the stream of shoppers and into the store.

Family tradition

Bo Moreno and his son Garreth sat on a mid-mall couch at mid-morning, surrounded by bags from Hollister, Belk, Journeys, Bath & Body Works, and a few others. They guarded the purchases for several relatives who were still bargain-hunting.

"We were here when it opened,” Bo Moreno said. "We started out at Belk, and there was a line out the door.”

The Morenos live near Birmingham, Alabama, and were joining others’ Black Friday tradition.

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Bo Moreno and his son Garreth sit with the family purchases during Black Friday shopping at West Town Mall Friday, Nov. 24, 2017.(Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)

"We’re visiting family for Thanksgiving, and this is kind of what they do," Bo Moreno said. They expected to spend all day shopping, at West Town and elsewhere.

"It's tiring, but it's fun," Garreth Moreno said.

Bo Moreno said West Town Mall had a good variety of stores, including some he hadn’t seen before. About a third of the mall’s stores are unique to the Knoxville area, according to mall owner Simon Property Group.

Small Business Saturday

A sign for Small Business Saturday – Nov. 25 – already hung in the window of Bohemian Baby. As a mall tenant and locally-owned small business, Black Friday and Small Business Saturday were both significant, employee Heather Goins said.

The purveyor of baby toys, clothes and related items, owned by Heather Truax, has been in many locations around town, including a stint at Knoxville Center, Goins said.

"We've been here for a year, but we've been in business for, I want to say, eight or nine years now,” she said.

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Bohemian Baby is one of the stores promoting Small Business Saturday at West Town Mall Friday, Nov. 24, 2017.(Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)

Bohemian Baby’s business on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday is usually about the same, and the early hours of Black Friday had been good, Goins said. Some of that traffic came from online sales, which began at midnight, she said.

Many of the store’s toys are marked 25 percent off, and other items including baby carriers were 20 to 60 percent off.

"Our sales will run through Tuesday," Goins said.

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Deedra Blevins tries out a child carrier wrap with help from her husband Preston at Bohemian Baby shop at West Town Mall Friday, Nov. 24, 2017. One-year-old Daliah is inside the wrap and Preston is holding Caden, 3.(Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)

Goins showed Deedra Blevins of Knoxville how to use an XOXO Baby Carrier – essentially a long strip of cloth, wrapped to sling a baby on her back. Deedra and Preston Blevins of Knoxville brought their two small children to West Town Mall shortly after 9 a.m., planning to do most of their Christmas shopping.

"We’re just kind of looking around," Preston Blevins said.

"Checking out the deals," Deedra Blevins said.

Bohemian Baby, where they often shop, was their first stop; they’d probably do most of their buying in the mall, she said.

Shop 'til you drop

By 9:45 a.m. Zach Anderson and Breanna Reese were ready for brunch. They drove 25 miles from Corryton to be at West Town Mall by 5:45 a.m., he said. The previous night they’d been to Knoxville Center, which they still referred to as East Towne Mall.

"We're pretty tired right now,” she said. "I've walked into almost every store. At least it feels like it."

So they took a break to sit and eat in the mall food court: Anderson with a chicken Philly from Charley’s Philly Steaks, while Reese ate Chick-fil-A Chick-n-Minis.

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Zach Anderson and Breanna Reese stop for a meal during their Black Friday shopping at West Town Mall Friday, Nov. 24, 2017. (Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)

They already had several shopping bags on this, their third Black Friday shopping trip to West Town Mall in consecutive years.

"For her, it's shopping for herself," Anderson said, grinning.

Reese disagreed. She bought for others, too – “It’s a bit of both,” she said.

"Last year I was more toward the electronics, but this year I was more like, ‘Hmm, whatever sales were good,’” Reese said.

GameStop

“We're sold out of our hot system, our PS4. We’re sold out of a couple games. It's been crazy,” he said. The PlayStation 4, plus a $50 gift card, sold for $199, Hunt said.

“That sold out fast,” he said. All gaming systems were hot items, including the Nintendo Switch, of which GameStop still had a few. The store recently added a section of Pokemon collectibles, which were popular with adults and children alike, Hunt said.

But crowds moved smoothly, and most shoppers were amiable; the only unhappy ones were people asking for PlayStation 4s or the Injustice 2 game, both of which were sold out, he said.

Just getting started

Lawanda Bolden of Knoxville arrived about 8:30 a.m. with her sister Ramona Hunter and niece Janiah Hunter, both of Anderson, South Carolina. A couple of hours later, they were ready for a coffee break, and so stood in line at the Starbucks kiosk mid-mall.

Black Friday shopping is a tradition for Bolden and her sister, whether in Knoxville or Anderson.

"This is our first stop, and then we’re heading to Pigeon Forge to the outlets,” Bolden said.

They had a long day planned, as Bolden Christmas-shopped for 10 people, Hunter for eight. By 10:30 a.m. they had four or five gifts taken care of, thanks to Belk, Dillard’s, Torrid and a few other stores.

'They're professionals'

Tom Daly strolled through the mall, hands thrust in his pockets, evidently buying nothing. But appearances were deceiving. He was waiting for his wife and daughter, who were both laden with packages after less than an hour of shopping.

Daly, from Cleveland, Ohio, was in town for Thanksgiving to visit his daughter, who is taking college classes here, he said. Black Friday was his first visit to West Town Mall, and to Knoxville.

"I can see why people want to move down to Tennessee and live. It's very nice,” Daly said.

He wasn’t averse to buying, but didn’t want to get caught in long lines, he said.

"I've been popping in and out of stores, checking things out myself,” Daly said. Aggressive holiday shoppers, though, had already cut him off in line at Kohl’s as they strove to beat each other to bargains.